1. Technical Field
The described embodiments pertain to using data collected by mobile sensors to assist in venue identification and classification.
2. Description of Related Art
Many modern user devices such as smartphones and tablets include a large number of sensors capable of collecting a wide array of data of varying types. A typical smartphone includes a GPS positioning sensor, a microphone, two or more cameras, and an accelerometer. Some user devices contain additional sensors, such as thermometers, barometers, altimeters, and the like.
A variety of applications and systems currently exist that make use of location data collected from a user device to provide location-aware functionality. Location-awareness is of value to a wide range of systems. Location-aware systems typically identify the user's current geo-spatial location using a location-determination sensor and compare this location to a database to predict a venue or area that the user is currently at or near. For example, a weather application can provide pertinent information about the city the user is currently in, a navigation system can offer to provide directions to near-by venues that the user has previously visited, a marketing system can provide advertisements for venues similar to those the user frequents, and the like. However, the value of such location-aware systems is limited by a number of factors.
First, in many environments, the difference in position of neighboring venues is too small for typical positioning sensors to unambiguously distinguish between them. Such sensors typically provide a geo-spatial location for a device with an accuracy of 5-20 yards, which is of the same order as the distance between venues in many environments. For example, the information pertinent to a user while sitting in her office may be significantly different to the information she would be interested in while in the bar next door after work, and the device's sensors may be functionally unable to differentiate between the two. As another example, the information relevant to a user who frequents a clothing store in a mall may be significantly different from the information desired by a user who frequents the music store directly above it; these two locations may appear identical to the device's location sensors.
Second, location-aware systems can only provide information pertinent to a particular venue if the systems already have access to data about the venue. For example, users in a music store may wish to be informed about new album releases and provided with reviews of those albums. However, the system needs to know in advance (e.g., via access to a venues database) that a music store exists at that location.
Third, existing systems consider where a user is, but the information that the user is interested in varies due to many factors other than location. For example, a user who is in a bar during karaoke night may be interested in very different information to a user who is there during the Super Bowl.